Long shelf lives

Food naturally degrades, and preservation is therefore a necessity. Preservation is also a way to give foods new and often gastronomic flavours that become part of our heritage.

Cooking, drying, smoking, marinating and curing are methods that have been used to preserve foods for thousands of years. As technologies evolved, new techniques emerged: canning, sterilizing, refrigerating, freezing and vacuum packing.

These methods significantly impact the foods we eat: smoked fish and dried fish taste very different and the cured ham produced in one region is unlike the cured ham made elsewhere. 

With aging, preservation becomes gastronomic, as foods develop special and unique tastes. Aged cheddars grow more complex, fruitcake gets tastier and some wines develop over years and even decades. Preservation provides an added value and sometimes even international renown for producers.